HCM Defender 100 Index ETF
HCM Defender 500 Index ETF
PROSPECTUS
| Adviser: | |
| |
| 1145 Hembree Road, | |
| Roswell, Georgia 30076 | |
| www.howardcmetfs.com | 1-770-642-4902 |
This Prospectus provides important information about each Fund that you should know before investing. Please read it carefully and keep it for future reference.
These securities have not been approved or disapproved by the Securities and Exchange Commission nor has the Securities and Exchange Commission passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this Prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
Shares of each Fund are listed and traded on NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “Exchange”).
Table of Contents
The Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond, before fees and expenses, generally to the performance of the HCM Defender 100 Index (the “HCM 100 Index”).
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
| Annual Fund Operating
Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) |
|
| Management Fees | |
| Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees | |
| Other Expenses | |
| Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses(1) | |
| Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses |
| (1) |
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
| 1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years |
| $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
The Fund pays transaction
costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over”
its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction
costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable
account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses
or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal
year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was
1
The HCM 100 Index uses the HCM BuyLine® (“BuyLine®”), a proprietary quantitative investment model, to determine when the HCM 100 Index should be in or out of the market. The BuyLine® uses trend analysis to help identify the broad trend in the equity market. When the trend is down, the HCM 100 Index reduces exposure to equities, and when the trend is up, the HCM 100 Index increases exposure to equities. When the Solactive US Large Cap Index’s closing price drops to 3.5% below the BuyLine®, the HCM 100 Index will assume a 50/50 position in equities and 1-3-month Treasury instruments. If the Solactive US Large Cap Index drops to 6.5% below the BuyLine®, the HCM 100 Index will be 100% in 1-3-month Treasury instruments. Once the Solactive US Large Cap Index closes above the BuyLine® for five consecutive trading days, the HCM 100 Index will be reinvested in equities. If the Solactive US Large Cap Index closes above the BuyLine® without having previously closed below the 3.5% or 6.5% levels for at least five consecutive trading days, the HCM 100 Index will add or maintain exposure to track the Solactive US Technology 100 Index. The Fund may invest in derivatives or leveraged exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”), sometimes referred to in this Prospectus as “Underlying Funds,” in seeking to track the HCM 100 Index’s exposure to the securities in the Solactive US Technology 100 Index.
The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its net assets (including borrowings for investment purposes but exclusive of collateral held from securities lending) in index futures, options, options on index futures, swap contracts or other derivatives, cash equivalents, other investment companies, as well as in securities and other instruments not included in the HCM 100 Index but which the adviser believes helps the Fund track the HCM 100 Index.
The following describes the risks the Fund bears directly or indirectly through investments in other funds. As with any fund, there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve its goal.
2
Authorized Participant Risk: Only an authorized participant that has entered into a contractual arrangement with the Fund’s distributor may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund’s distributor has entered into contracts with only a limited number of institutions that may act as authorized participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that authorized participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other authorized participant is able to step forward to create or redeem large blocks of shares known as “Creation Units,” Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized participant concentration risk may be heightened for ETFs that invest in non-U.S. securities or other securities or instruments that have lower trading volumes.
Concentration Risk: The Fund focuses its investments in securities of a particular industry to the extent that its index does. Economic, legislative or regulatory developments may occur that significantly affect the industry. This may cause the Fund’s NAV to fluctuate more than that of a fund that does not focus in a particular industry.
Credit Risk: Credit risk is the risk that the issuer of a security and other instrument is not able to make principal and interest payments when due.
Derivatives Risk: The Fund may gain exposure to derivatives directly through investment in derivatives instruments, such as swaps, or indirectly through its investment in ETFs that invest in derivatives. The Fund’s exposure to derivative instruments, such as swaps, involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. These risks include (i) the risk that the counterparty to a derivative transaction may not fulfill its contractual obligations; (ii) risk of mispricing or improper valuation; and (iii) the risk that changes in the value of the derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index. Derivative prices are highly volatile and may fluctuate substantially during a short period of time. Such prices are influenced by numerous factors that affect the markets, including, but not limited to: changing supply and demand relationships; government programs and policies; national and international political and economic events, changes in interest rates, inflation and deflation and changes in supply and demand relationships. Trading derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities.
Equity Securities Risk: Fluctuations in the value of equity securities held by the Fund causes the NAV of the Fund to fluctuate.
| ○ | Common Stock Risks: Common stock of an issuer in the Fund’s portfolio may decline in price if the issuer fails to make anticipated dividend payments. Common stock is subject to greater dividend risk than preferred stocks or debt instruments of the same issuer. |
| ○ | Preferred Stock Risks: Generally, preferred stockholders have no voting rights with respect to the issuing company unless certain events occur. In addition, preferred stock is subject to greater credit risk than debt instruments of an issuer, and could be subject to interest rate risk like fixed income securities, as described below. |
3
ETF Structure Risks: The Fund is structured as an ETF is subject to the special risks, including:
| ○ | Not Individually Redeemable: Shares of the Fund (“Shares”) are not individually redeemable and may be redeemed by the Fund at NAV only in large blocks known as “Creation Units.” You may incur brokerage costs purchasing enough Shares to constitute a Creation Unit. |
| ○ | Trading Issues: An active trading market for Shares may not be developed or maintained. Trading in Shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in Shares inadvisable, such as extraordinary market volatility. There can be no assurance that Shares will continue to meet the listing requirements of the Exchange. If Shares are traded outside a collateralized settlement system, the number of financial institutions that can act as authorized participants that can post collateral on an agency basis is limited, which may limit the market for Shares. |
| ○ | Market Price Variance Risk: The market prices of Shares will fluctuate in response to changes in NAV and supply and demand for Shares and will include a “bid-ask spread” charged by the exchange specialists, market makers or other participants that trade the particular security. There may be times when the market price and the NAV vary significantly. This means that Shares may trade at a discount to NAV. |
Fluctuation of Net Asset Value Risk: The NAV of Shares generally fluctuates with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings. The market prices of Shares generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in NAV as well as the relative supply of and demand for the shares on the Exchange. The adviser cannot predict whether the Shares will trade below, at or above their NAV.
Foreign Securities Risk: Since the Fund’s investments may include ETFs with foreign securities, the Fund is subject to risks beyond those associated with investing in domestic securities. Foreign companies are generally not subject to the same regulatory requirements of U.S. companies thereby resulting in less publicly available information about these companies. In addition, foreign accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards generally differ from those applicable to U.S. companies.
Growth Stock Risk: Growth stocks can react differently to issuer, political, market, and economic developments than the market as a whole and other types of stocks. The stocks of such companies can therefore be subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements than stocks of larger, more established companies or the stock market in general.
Index Provider Risk: The Fund seeks to achieve returns that generally correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of its index, as published by its index provider. There is no assurance that the index provider will compile the index accurately, or that the index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While the index provider gives descriptions of what the index is designed to achieve, the index provider does not provide any warranty or accept any liability in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the index, and does not guarantee that its index will be in line with its methodology.
4
Leveraged ETF Risk: Leveraged ETFs will amplify losses because they are designed to produce returns that are a multiple of the index to which they are linked. Most leveraged ETFs “reset” daily. Due to the effect of compounding, their performance over longer periods of time can differ significantly from the performance of their underlying index or benchmark during the same period of time.
Market and Geopolitical Risk: The increasing interconnectivity between global economies and financial markets increases the likelihood that events or conditions in one region or financial market may adversely impact issuers in a different country, region or financial market. Securities in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform due to inflation (or expectations for inflation), interest rates, global demand for particular products or resources, natural disasters, climate change and climate-related events, pandemics, epidemics, terrorism, regulatory events and governmental or quasi-governmental actions. The occurrence of global events similar to those in recent years may result in market volatility and may have long term effects on both the U.S. and global financial markets.
Portfolio Turnover Risk: The Fund often buys and sells investments frequently. Such a strategy often involves higher transaction costs, including brokerage commissions, and may increase the amount of capital gains (in particular, short term gains) realized by the Fund. Shareholders may pay tax on such capital gains.
Securities Market Risk: The value of securities owned by the Fund may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to factors affecting particular companies or the securities markets generally. A general downturn in the securities market may cause multiple asset classes to decline in value simultaneously.
Small and Medium Capitalization Stock Risk: The earnings and prospects of small and medium sized companies are more volatile than larger companies and may experience higher failure rates than larger companies. Small and medium sized companies normally have a lower trading volume than larger companies, which may tend to make their market price fall more disproportionately than larger companies in response to selling pressures.
Tracking Error Risk: Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the index. Tracking error may occur because of imperfect correlation between the Fund’s holdings of portfolio securities and those in the index, pricing differences, the Fund’s holding of cash, difference in timing of the accrual of dividends, changes to the index or the need to meet various regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses while the index does not.
Underlying Funds Risk: Other investment companies, such as ETFs, in which the Fund invests are subject to investment advisory and other expenses, which will be indirectly paid by the Fund. As a result, the cost of investing in the Fund is higher than the cost of investing directly in the Underlying Funds and may be higher than other funds that invest directly in stocks and bonds.
5
| Annual Return 2020 |
| 6/30/20 | ||
| 3/31/20 | ( |
Average
Annual Total Returns
(For periods ended December 31,
2020)
| One Year |
Since Inception () | |
| Return after taxes on distributions | ||
| Return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares | ||
| HCM Defender 100 Index (1) | ||
| Nasdaq 100 Total Return Index (2) |
| (1) |
| (2) |
6
After-tax returns were calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Fund through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.
Investment Adviser: Howard Capital Management, Inc. (the “Adviser”)
Portfolio Manager: Vance Howard, President, CEO, Chairman of the Board and Founder of the Adviser, has served the Fund as its portfolio manager since it commenced operations in 2019.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares: Individual Shares may be purchased and sold in secondary market transactions through a broker dealer or at market price. Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange and trade at market prices rather than NAV. Shares may trade at a price that is greater than, at, or less than NAV. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the second market (the “bid-ask spread”). Information on the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts and bid-ask spreads www.howardcmetfs.com.
Tax Information: The Fund’s distributions generally will be taxable as ordinary income or long-term capital gains. A sale of Shares may result in capital gain or loss.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries: If you purchase the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
7
The Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond, before fees and expenses, generally to the performance of the HCM Defender 500 Index (the “HCM 500 Index”).
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
| Annual Fund Operating
Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) |
|
| Management Fees | |
| Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees | |
| Other Expenses | |
| Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses(1) | |
| Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses |
| (1) |
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.
| 1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years |
| $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
The Fund pays transaction
costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over”
its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction
costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable
account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses
or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal
year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was
8
The HCM 500 Index uses the HCM BuyLine® (“BuyLine®”), its proprietary quantitative investment model, to determine when the Fund should be in or out of the market. The BuyLine® uses trend analysis to help identify the broad trend in the equity market. When the trend is down, the HCM 500 Index reduces exposure to equities, and when the trend is up, the HCM 500 Index increases exposure to equities. When the Solactive US Large Cap Index’s closing price drops to 3.5% below the BuyLine®, the HCM 500 Index will assume a 50/50 position in equities and 1-3-month Treasury instruments. If the Solactive US Large Cap Index drops to 6.5% below the BuyLine®, the HCM 500 Index will be 100% in 1-3-month Treasury instruments. Once the Solactive US Large Cap Index closes above the BuyLine® for five consecutive trading days after having dropped below one or both of the previous two levels, the HCM 500 Index will be reinvested in equities. If the Solactive US Large Cap Index closes above the BuyLine® without having previously closed below the 3.5% or 6.5% levels for at least five consecutive trading days, the HCM 500 Index will add or maintain exposure to track the Solactive US Large Cap Index. The Fund may invest in leveraged exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) in seeking to track the HCM 500 Index’s investment exposure to the securities in the Solactive US Large Cap Index.
The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its net assets, including borrowings for investment purposes but exclusive of collateral held from securities lending, in index futures, options, options on index futures, swap contracts or other derivatives, cash equivalents, other investment companies, as well as in securities and other instruments not included in the HCM 500 Index but which the adviser believes helps the Fund track the HCM 500 Index.
The following describes the risks the Fund bears directly or indirectly through investments in other funds. As with any fund, there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve its goal.
9
Authorized Participant Risk: Only an authorized participant that has entered into a contractual arrangement with the Fund’s distributor may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund’s distributor has entered into contracts with only a limited number of institutions that may act as authorized participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that authorized participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other authorized participant is able to step forward to create or redeem large blocks of shares known as “Creation Units,” Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized participant concentration risk may be heightened for ETFs that invest in non-U.S. securities or other securities or instruments that have lower trading volumes.
Concentration Risk: The Fund focuses its investments in securities of a particular industry to the extent that its index does. Economic, legislative or regulatory developments may occur that significantly affect the industry. This may cause the Fund’s NAV to fluctuate more than that of a fund that does not focus in a particular industry.
Credit Risk: Credit risk is the risk that the issuer of a security and other instrument is not able to make principal and interest payments when due.
Derivatives Risk: The Fund may gain exposure to derivatives directly through investment in derivatives instruments, such as swaps, or indirectly through its investment in ETFs that invest in derivatives. The Fund’s exposure to derivative instruments, such as swaps, involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. These risks include (i) the risk that the counterparty to a derivative transaction may not fulfill its contractual obligations; (ii) risk of mispricing or improper valuation; and (iii) the risk that changes in the value of the derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index. Derivative prices are highly volatile and may fluctuate substantially during a short period of time. Such prices are influenced by numerous factors that affect the markets, including, but not limited to: changing supply and demand relationships; government programs and policies; national and international political and economic events, changes in interest rates, inflation and deflation and changes in supply and demand relationships. Trading derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities.
Equity Securities Risk: Fluctuations in the value of equity securities held by the Fund causes the NAV of the Fund to fluctuate.
| ○ | Common Stock Risks: Common stock of an issuer in the Fund’s portfolio may decline in price if the issuer fails to make anticipated dividend payments. Common stock is subject to greater dividend risk than preferred stocks or debt instruments of the same issuer. |
| ○ | Preferred Stock Risks: Generally, preferred stockholders have no voting rights with respect to the issuing company unless certain events occur. In addition, preferred stock is subject to greater credit risk than debt instruments of an issuer, and could be subject to interest rate risk like fixed income securities, as described below. |
10
ETF Structure Risks: The Fund is structured as an ETF is subject to the special risks, including:
| ○ | Not Individually Redeemable: Shares of the Fund (“Shares”) are not individually redeemable and may be redeemed by the Fund at NAV only in large blocks known as “Creation Units.” You may incur brokerage costs purchasing enough Shares to constitute a Creation Unit. |
| ○ | Trading Issues: An active trading market for Shares may not be developed or maintained. Trading in Shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in Shares inadvisable, such as extraordinary market volatility. There can be no assurance that Shares will continue to meet the listing requirements of the Exchange. If Shares are traded outside a collateralized settlement system, the number of financial institutions that can act as authorized participants that can post collateral on an agency basis is limited, which may limit the market for Shares. |
| ○ | Market Price Variance Risk: The market prices of Shares will fluctuate in response to changes in NAV and supply and demand for Shares and will include a “bid-ask spread” charged by the exchange specialists, market makers or other participants that trade the particular security. There may be times when the market price and the NAV vary significantly. This means that Shares may trade at a discount to NAV. |
Fluctuation of Net Asset Value Risk: The NAV of Shares generally fluctuates with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings. The market prices of Shares generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in NAV as well as the relative supply of and demand for the shares on the Exchange. The adviser cannot predict whether the Shares will trade below, at or above their NAV.
Foreign Securities Risk: Since the Fund’s investments may include ETFs with foreign securities, the Fund is subject to risks beyond those associated with investing in domestic securities. Foreign companies are generally not subject to the same regulatory requirements of U.S. companies thereby resulting in less publicly available information about these companies. In addition, foreign accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards generally differ from those applicable to U.S. companies.
Growth Stock Risk: Growth stocks can react differently to issuer, political, market, and economic developments than the market as a whole and other types of stocks. The stocks of such companies can therefore be subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements than stocks of larger, more established companies or the stock market in general.
Index Provider Risk: The Fund seeks to achieve returns that generally correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of its index, as published by its index provider. There is no assurance that the index provider will compile the index accurately, or that the index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While the index provider gives descriptions of what the index is designed to achieve, the index provider does not provide any warranty or accept any liability in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the index, and does not guarantee that its index will be in line with its methodology.
11
Leveraged ETF Risk: Leveraged ETFs will amplify losses because they are designed to produce returns that are a multiple of the index to which they are linked. Most leveraged ETFs “reset” daily. Due to the effect of compounding, their performance over longer periods of time can differ significantly from the performance of their underlying index or benchmark during the same period of time.
Market and Geopolitical Risk: The increasing interconnectivity between global economies and financial markets increases the likelihood that events or conditions in one region or financial market may adversely impact issuers in a different country, region or financial market. Securities in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform due to inflation (or expectations for inflation), interest rates, global demand for particular products or resources, natural disasters, climate change and climate-related events, pandemics, epidemics, terrorism, regulatory events and governmental or quasi-governmental actions. The occurrence of global events similar to those in recent years may result in market volatility and may have long term effects on both the U.S. and global financial markets.
Portfolio Turnover Risk: The Fund often buys and sells investments frequently. Such a strategy often involves higher transaction costs, including brokerage commissions, and may increase the amount of capital gains (in particular, short term gains) realized by the Fund. Shareholders may pay tax on such capital gains.
Securities Market Risk: The value of securities owned by the Fund may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to factors affecting particular companies or the securities markets generally. A general downturn in the securities market may cause multiple asset classes to decline in value simultaneously.
Small and Medium Capitalization Stock Risk: The earnings and prospects of small and medium sized companies are more volatile than larger companies and may experience higher failure rates than larger companies. Small and medium sized companies normally have a lower trading volume than larger companies, which may tend to make their market price fall more disproportionately than larger companies in response to selling pressures.
Tracking Error Risk: Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the index. Tracking error may occur because of imperfect correlation between the Fund’s holdings of portfolio securities and those in the index, pricing differences, the Fund’s holding of cash, difference in timing of the accrual of dividends, changes to the index or the need to meet various regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses while the index does not.
Underlying Funds Risk:
Other investment companies, such as ETFs, in which the Fund invests are subject
to investment advisory and other expenses, which will be indirectly paid by the
Fund. As a result, the cost of investing in the Fund is higher than the cost of
investing directly in the Underlying Funds and may be higher than other funds
that invest directly in stocks and bonds.
12
| Annual Return 2020 |
| 12/31/20 | ||
| 3/31/20 | ( |
Average
Annual Total Returns
(For periods ended December 31,
2020)
| One Year |
Since Inception () | |
| Return after taxes on distributions | ||
| Return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares | ||
| HCM Defender 500 Index (1) | ||
| S&P 500 Total Return Index (2) |
| (1) |
| (2) |
13
After-tax returns were calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Fund through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.
Investment Adviser: Howard Capital Management, Inc. (the “Adviser”)
Portfolio Manager: Vance Howard, President, CEO, Chairman of the Board and Founder of the Adviser, has served the Fund as its portfolio manager since it commenced operations in 2019.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares: Individual Shares may be purchased and sold in secondary market transactions through a broker dealer or at market price. Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange and trade at market prices rather than NAV. Shares may trade at a price that is greater than, at, or less than NAV. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the second market (the “bid-ask spread”). Information on the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts and bid-ask spreads www.howardcmetfs.com.
Tax Information: The Fund’s distributions generally will be taxable as ordinary income or long-term capital gains. A sale of Shares may result in capital gain or loss.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries: If you purchase the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
14
ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION ABOUT
PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES AND RELATED
RISKS
| Fund | Investment Objective |
| HCM Defender 100 Index
ETF (“100 ETF”) |
The Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond, before fees and expenses, generally to the performance of the HCM Defender 100 Index (the “HCM 100 Index”). |
| HCM Defender 500 Index
ETF (“500 ETF”) |
The Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond, before fees and expenses, generally to the performance of the HCM Defender 500 Index (the “HCM 500 Index”). |
Each Fund’s investment objective may be changed by the Board of Trustees upon 60 days’ written notice to shareholders.
Principal Investment Strategies:
100 ETF
The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets, including borrowings for investment purposes but exclusive of collateral held from securities lending, in securities included in the HCM 100 Index. The HCM 100 Index seeks to outperform the Solactive US Technology 100 Index using a proprietary methodology. The Solactive US Technology 100 Index is comprised of the largest and most liquid companies classified in the Technology sector as defined by the TRBC Sector Classification. The HCM 100 Index alternates exposure among a full position of securities in the Solactive US Technology 100 Index, a 50/50 equity/1-3-month Treasury instruments (including ETFs, mutual funds, or derivatives), or a full 1-3-month Treasury instruments position. The Fund may gain exposure to securities included in the HCM 100 Index indirectly through investments in derivatives and other investment companies. The HCM 100 Index is an index sponsored, created, compiled, and maintained by the adviser and uses a representative sampling strategy.
15
The HCM 100 Index uses the HCM BuyLine® (“BuyLine®”), a proprietary quantitative investment model, to determine when the HCM 100 Index should be in or out of the market. The BuyLine® uses trend analysis to help identify the broad trend in the equity market. When the trend is down, the HCM 100 Index reduces exposure to equities, and when the trend is up, the HCM 100 Index increases exposure to equities. When the Solactive US Large Cap Index’s closing price drops to 3.5% below the BuyLine®, the HCM 100 Index will assume a 50/50 position in equities and 1-3-Month Treasury instruments. If the Solactive US Large Cap Index drops to 6.5% below the BuyLine®, the HCM 100 Index will be 100% in 1-3-month Treasury instruments. Once the Solactive US Large Cap Index closes above the HCM BuyLine® for five consecutive trading days, the HCM 100 Index will be reinvested in equities. If the Solactive US Large Cap Index closes above the BuyLine® without having previously closed below the 3.5% or 6.5% levels for at least five consecutive trading days, the HCM 100 Index will add or maintain exposure to track the Solactive US Technology 100 Index. The Fund may invest in derivatives or leveraged exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) in seeking to track the HCM 100 Index’s exposure to the securities in the Solactive US Technology 100 Index.
The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its net assets (including borrowings for investment purposes but exclusive of collateral held from securities lending) in index futures, options, options on index futures, swap contracts or other derivatives, cash equivalents, other investment companies, as well as in securities and other instruments not included in the HCM 100 Index but which the Adviser believes helps the Fund track the HCM 100 Index.
500 ETF
The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets, including borrowings for investment purposes but exclusive of collateral held from securities lending, in securities included in the HCM 500 Index. The HCM 500 Index seeks to outperform the Solactive US Large Cap Index using a proprietary methodology. The Solactive US Large Cap Index is comprised of common stocks issued by 500 large-capitalization companies traded on American stock exchanges. The HCM 500 Index alternates exposure between a full equity position, a 50/50 equity/1-3-Month Treasury instruments (including ETFs, mutual funds, or derivatives), or a full 1-3-Month Treasury instruments position. The Fund may gain exposure to securities included in the HCM 500 Index indirectly through investments in derivatives and other investment companies. The HCM 500 Index is an index sponsored, created, compiled, and maintained by the adviser and uses a representative sampling strategy.
The HCM 500 Index uses the HCM BuyLine®, its proprietary quantitative investment model, to determine when the Fund should be in or out of the market. The BuyLine® uses trend analysis to help identify the broad trend in the equity market. When the trend is down, the HCM 500 Index reduces exposure to equities, and when the trend is up, the HCM 500 Index exposure to equities. When the Solactive US Large Cap Index’s closing price drops to 3.5% below the BuyLine®, the HCM 500 Index will assume a 50/50 position in equities and 1-3-month Treasury instruments. If the Solactive US Large Cap Index drops to 6.5% below the BuyLine®, the HCM 500 Index will be 100% in 1-3-month Treasury
16
instruments. Once the Solactive US Large Cap Index closes above the BuyLine® for five consecutive trading days, the HCM 500 Index will be reinvested in equities. If the Solactive US Large Cap Index closes above the BuyLine® without having previously closed below the 3.5% or 6.5% levels for at least five consecutive trading days, the HCM 500 Index will add or maintain exposure to track the Solactive US Large Cap Index. The Fund may invest in derivatives or leveraged ETFs in seeking to track the HCM 500 Index’s investment exposure to the securities in the Solactive US Large Cap Index.
The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its net assets, including borrowings for investment purposes but exclusive of collateral held from securities lending, in index futures, options, options on index futures, swap contracts or other derivatives, cash equivalents, other investment companies, as well as in securities and other instruments not included in the HCM 500 Index but which the Adviser believes helps the Fund track the HCM 500 Index.
The following describes the risks each Fund bears directly or indirectly through investments in Underlying Funds.
Authorized Participant Risk: Only an authorized participant that has entered into a contractual arrangement with the Funds’ distributor may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Funds. The Funds’ distributor has entered into contracts with only a limited number of institutions that may act as authorized participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that authorized participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Funds and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem large blocks of shares known as “Creation Units,” Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened for ETFs that invest in non-U.S. securities or other securities or instruments that have lower trading volumes.
Concentration Risk: Each Fund focuses its investments in securities of a particular industry to the extent that its index does. Economic, legislative or regulatory developments may occur that significantly affect the industry. This may cause the Fund’s NAV to fluctuate more than that of a fund that does not focus in a particular industry.
Credit Risk: Credit risk is the risk that the issuer of a security and other instrument is not able to make principal and interest payments when due.
Derivatives Risk: Each Fund may gain exposure to derivatives directly through investment in derivatives instruments, such as swaps, or indirectly through its investment in ETFs that invest in derivatives. Each Fund’s exposure to derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. These risks include (i) the risk that the counterparty to a derivative transaction may not fulfill its contractual obligations; (ii) risk of mispricing or improper valuation; and (iii) the risk that changes in the value of the derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index. Derivative
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prices are highly volatile and may fluctuate substantially during a short period of time. Such prices are influenced by numerous factors that affect the markets, including, but not limited to: changing supply and demand relationships; government programs and policies; national and international political and economic events, changes in interest rates, inflation and deflation and changes in supply and demand relationships. Trading derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities including:
| ● | Leverage and Volatility Risk: Derivative contracts ordinarily have leverage inherent in their terms. The low margin deposits normally required in trading derivatives, including futures contracts, permit a high degree of leverage. Accordingly, a relatively small price movement may result in an immediate and substantial loss to each Fund. The use of leverage may also cause each Fund to liquidate portfolio positions when it would not be advantageous to do so in order to satisfy its obligations or to meet collateral segregation requirements. The use of leveraged derivatives can magnify each Fund’s potential for gain or loss and, therefore, amplify the effects of market volatility on each Fund’s share price. |
| ● | Liquidity Risk: It is possible that particular derivative investments might be difficult to purchase or sell, possibly preventing each Fund from executing positions at an advantageous time or price, or possibly requiring them to dispose of other investments at unfavorable times or prices in order to satisfy their obligations. Most U.S. commodity futures exchanges impose daily limits regulating the maximum amount above or below the previous day’s settlement price which a futures contract price may fluctuate during a single day. During a single trading day no trades may be executed at prices beyond the daily limit. Once the price of a particular futures contract has increased or decreased to the limit point, it may be difficult, costly or impossible to liquidate a position. It is also possible that an exchange or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), which regulates commodity futures exchanges, may suspend trading in a particular contract, order immediate settlement of a contract or order that trading to the liquidation of open positions only. |
Equity Securities Risk: Fluctuations in the value of equity securities held by each Fund causes the NAV of the Fund to fluctuate.
| ○ | Common Stock Risks: Common stock of an issuer in each Fund’s portfolio may decline in price if the issuer fails to make anticipated dividend payments. Common stock is subject to greater dividend risk than preferred stocks or debt instruments of the same issuer. In addition, common stocks have experienced significantly more volatility in returns than other asset classes. |
| ○ | Preferred Stock Risks: Generally, preferred stockholders have no voting rights with respect to the issuing company unless certain events occur. In addition, preferred stock is subject to greater credit risk than debt instruments of an issuer, and could be subject to interest rate risk like fixed income securities, as described below. An issuer’s board of directors is generally not under any obligation to pay a dividend (even if dividends have accrued), and may suspend payment of dividends on preferred stock at any time. There is also a risk that the issuer of any of a Fund’s holdings will default and fail to make scheduled dividend payments on the preferred stock held by the Fund. |
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ETF Structure Risk: Each Fund is structured as an ETF and as a result is subject to the special risks, including:
| ○ | Not Individually Redeemable: Shares are not individually redeemable and may be redeemed by the Fund at NAV only in large blocks known as “Creation Units.” You may incur brokerage costs purchasing enough Shares to constitute a Creation Unit. |
| ○ | Trading Issues: Trading in Shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in Shares inadvisable, such as extraordinary market volatility. There can be no assurance that Shares will continue to meet the listing requirements of the Exchange. If Shares are traded outside a collateralized settlement system, the number of financial institutions that can act as authorized participants that can post collateral on an agency basis is limited, which may limit the market for Shares. |
| ○ | Market Price Variance Risk: Individual Shares that are listed for trading on the Exchange can be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. The market prices of Shares will fluctuate in response to changes in NAV and supply and demand for Shares. There may be times when the market price and the NAV vary significantly and you may pay more than NAV when buying Shares on the secondary market, and you may receive less than NAV when you sell those Shares. The market price of Shares, like the price of any exchange-traded security, includes a “bid-ask spread” charged by the exchange specialists, market makers or other participants that trade the particular security. In times of severe market disruption, the bid-ask spread often increases significantly. This means that Shares may trade at a discount to NAV and the discount is likely to be greatest when the price of Shares is falling fastest, which may be the time that you most want to sell your Shares. Each Fund’s investment results are measured based upon the daily NAV of the Fund over a period of time. Investors purchasing and selling Shares in the secondary market may not experience investment results consistent with those experienced by those creating and redeeming directly with the Fund. |
| ■ | In times of market stress, market makers may step away from their role market making in shares of ETFs and in executing trades, which can lead to differences between the market value of Shares and each Fund’s NAV. |
| ■ | To the extent authorized participants exit the business or are unable to process creations or redemptions and no other authorized participant can step in to do so, there may be a significantly reduced trading market in the Shares, which can lead to differences between the market value of Shares and each Fund’s NAV. |
| ■ | The market price for Shares may deviate from each Fund’s NAV, particularly during times of market stress, with the result that investors may pay significantly more or receive significantly less for Fund shares than each Fund’s NAV, which is reflected in the bid and ask price for Shares or in the closing price. |
| ■ | When all or a portion of an ETFs underlying securities trade in a market that is closed when the market for the Shares is open, there may be changes from the last quote of the closed market and the quote from each Fund’s domestic trading day, which could lead to differences between the market value of the Shares and the Fund’s NAV. |
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| ■ | In stressed market conditions, the market for Shares may become less liquid in response to the deteriorating liquidity of each Fund’s portfolio. This adverse effect on the liquidity of Shares may, in turn, lead to differences between the market value of Shares and each Fund’s NAV. |
Fluctuation of Net Asset Value Risk: The NAV of Shares will generally fluctuate with changes in the market value of each Fund’s holdings. The market prices of Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in NAV as well as the relative supply of and demand for the Shares on the Exchange. The Adviser cannot predict whether Shares will trade below, at or above their NAV. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for Shares will be closely related to, but not identical to, the same forces influencing the prices of each Fund’s holdings trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time. Index based ETFs have generally traded at prices which closely correspond to NAV per Share.
Foreign Securities Risk: Since each Fund’s investments may include ETFs with foreign securities, each Fund is subject to risks beyond those associated with investing in domestic securities. Foreign companies are generally not subject to the same regulatory requirements of U.S. companies thereby resulting in less publicly available information about these companies. In addition, foreign accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards generally differ from those applicable to U.S. companies. The value of foreign securities is also affected by the value of the local currency relative to the U.S. dollar.
Growth Stock Risk: Growth stocks can react differently to issuer, political, market, and economic developments than the market as a whole and other types of stocks. The stocks of such companies can therefore be subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements than stocks of larger, more established companies or the stock market in general.
Index Provider Risk: Each Fund seeks to achieve returns that generally correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of its index, as published by its index provider. There is no assurance that the index provider will compile the index accurately, or that the index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While the index provider gives descriptions of what the index is designed to achieve, the index provider does not provide any warranty or accept any liability in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the index, and does not guarantee that its index will be in line with its methodology.
Leveraged ETF Risk: Leveraged ETFs will amplify losses because they are designed to produce returns that are a multiple of the index to which they are linked. Most leveraged ETFs “reset” daily. Due to the effect of compounding, their performance over longer periods of time can differ significantly from the performance of their underlying index or benchmark during the same period of time. The use of leverage can magnify an ETF’s potential for gain or loss and; therefore, amplify the effects of market volatility on the ETF’s NAV. Using derivatives can create leverage, which can amplify the effects of market volatility on the ETF’s NAV and make the ETF’s returns more volatile. This may indirectly affect each Fund’s performance.
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Market and Geopolitical Risk: The increasing interconnectivity between global economies and financial markets increases the likelihood that events or conditions in one region or financial market may adversely impact issuers in a different country, region or financial market. Securities in each Fund’s portfolio may underperform due to inflation (or expectations for inflation), interest rates, global demand for particular products or resources, natural disasters, pandemics, epidemics, terrorism, regulatory events and governmental or quasi-governmental actions. The occurrence of global events similar to those in recent years, such as terrorist attacks around the world, natural disasters, climate-change and climate-related events, social and political discord or debt crises and downgrades, among others, may result in market volatility and may have long term effects on both the U.S. and global financial markets. It is difficult to predict when similar events affecting the U.S. or global financial markets may occur, the effects that such events may have and the duration of those effects. Any such event(s) could have a significant adverse impact on the value and risk profile of a Fund’s portfolio. The current novel coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, as well as the forced or voluntary closure of, or operational changes to, many retail and other businesses, has had negative impacts, and in many cases severe negative impacts, on markets worldwide. It is not known how long such impacts, or any future impacts of other significant events described above, will or would last, but there could be a prolonged period of global economic slowdown, which may impact your Fund investment. Therefore, each Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. During a general market downturn, multiple asset classes may be negatively affected. Changes in market conditions and interest rates can have the same impact on all types of securities and instruments. In times of severe market disruptions you could lose your entire investment.
Portfolio Turnover Risk: The Funds often buy and sell investments frequently. Such a strategy often involves higher transaction costs, including brokerage commissions, and may increase the amount of capital gains (in particular, short term gains) realized by the Funds. Shareholders may pay tax on such capital gains.
Securities Market Risk: Stock market risk is the risk that the value of securities owned by each Fund may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to factors affecting particular companies or the securities markets generally. A general downturn in the securities market may cause multiple asset classes to decline in value simultaneously, although equity securities generally have greater price volatility than fixed income securities. Despite gains in some markets after steep declines during certain periods, negative conditions and price declines may return unexpectedly and dramatically. In addition, each Fund could experience a loss when selling securities in order to meet unusually large or frequent redemption requests in times of overall market turmoil or declining prices for the securities sold. Stock price change daily, sometimes rapidly, in response to company activity and general economic and market conditions. Certain stocks may decline in value even during periods when the prices of equity securities in general are rising, or may not perform as well as the market in general. Stock prices may also experience greater volatility during periods of challenging market conditions such as the one that the market recently experienced.
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Small and Medium Capitalization Stock Risk: The earnings and prospects of small and medium sized companies are more volatile than larger companies and may experience higher failure rates than larger companies. Small and medium sized companies normally have a lower trading volume than larger companies, which may tend to make their market price fall more disproportionately than larger companies in response to selling pressures and may have limited markets, product lines, or financial resources and lack management experience.
Tracking Error Risk: Tracking error is the divergence of a Fund’s performance from that of the index. Tracking error may occur because of imperfect correlation between each Fund’s holdings of portfolio securities and those in the index, pricing differences, each Fund’s holding of cash, difference in timing of the accrual of dividends, changes to the index or the need to meet various regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because each Fund incurs fees and expenses while the index does not.
Underlying Funds Risk: Underlying Funds in which the Funds invest are subject to investment advisory and other expenses, which will be indirectly paid by the Funds. As a result, the cost of investing in the Funds will be higher than the cost of investing directly in the Underlying Funds and may be higher than other funds that invest directly in stocks and bonds. Each of the Underlying Funds is subject to its own specific risks. Each Fund is subject to the principal investments risks of Underlying Funds by virtue of the Fund’s investment in such funds.
TEMPORARY INVESTMENTS: To respond to adverse market, economic, political or other conditions, each Fund may invest 100% of its total assets, without limitation, in high-quality short-term debt securities and money market instruments. These short-term debt securities and money market instruments include: shares of money market mutual funds, commercial paper, certificates of deposit, bankers’ acceptances, U.S. government securities and repurchase agreements. While each Fund is in a defensive position, the opportunity to achieve its investment objective will be limited. Furthermore, to the extent that a Fund invests in money market mutual funds for cash positions, there will be some duplication of expenses because the Fund pays its pro-rata portion of such money market funds’ advisory fees and operational fees. Each Fund may also invest a substantial portion of its assets in such instruments at any time to maintain liquidity or pending selection of investments in accordance with its policies.
PORTFOLIO HOLDINGS DISCLOSURE: A description of the Funds’ policies and procedures regarding the release of portfolio holdings information is available in the Funds’ Statement of Additional Information.
CYBERSECURITY: The computer systems, networks and devices used by the Funds and their service providers to carry out routine business operations employ a variety of protections designed to prevent damage or interruption from computer viruses, network failures, computer and telecommunication failures, infiltration by unauthorized persons and security breaches. Despite the various protections utilized by the Funds and their service providers, systems, networks, or devices potentially can be breached. Each Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result of a cybersecurity breach.
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Cybersecurity breaches can include unauthorized access to systems, networks, or devices; infection from computer viruses or other malicious software code; and attacks that shut down, disable, slow, or otherwise disrupt operations, business processes, or website access or functionality. Cybersecurity breaches may cause disruptions and impact each Fund’s business operations, potentially resulting in financial losses; interference with each Fund’s ability to calculate its NAV; impediments to trading; the inability of each Fund, the adviser, and other service providers to transact business; violations of applicable privacy and other laws; regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or additional compliance costs; as well as the inadvertent release of confidential information.
Similar adverse consequences could result from cybersecurity breaches affecting issuers of securities in which the Funds invest; counterparties with which the Funds engage in transactions; governmental and other regulatory authorities; exchange and other financial market operators, banks, brokers, dealers, insurance companies, and other financial institutions (including financial intermediaries and service providers for a Fund’s shareholders); and other parties. In addition, substantial costs may be incurred by these entities in order to prevent any cybersecurity breaches in the future.
Investment Adviser: Howard Capital Management, Inc., located at 1145 Hembree Road, Roswell, GA 30076, serves as each Fund’s investment adviser. The Adviser is registered with the SEC as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. The Adviser manages separate accounts and mutual funds and has approximately $3.1 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2021.
Subject to the oversight of the Board of Trustees, the Adviser is responsible for managing the Fund’s investments, executing transactions and providing related administrative services and facilities under an Investment Advisory Agreement between each Fund and the Adviser.
The management fee set forth in the Investment Advisory Agreement is 0.77% for the 100 ETF and 0.77% for the 500 ETF annually, to be paid on a monthly basis. In addition to investment advisory fees, each Fund pays other expenses including costs incurred in connection with the maintenance of securities law registration, printing and mailing prospectuses and statements of additional information to shareholders, certain financial accounting services, taxes or governmental fees, custodial, transfer and shareholder servicing agent costs, expenses of outside counsel and independent accountants, preparation of shareholder reports and expenses of trustee and shareholders meetings.
During the period ended June 30, 2021, the Funds paid an aggregate of the percentages shown below of its average net assets to the Adviser.
| Fund | Net Management Fee Received |
| HCM Defender 100 Index Fund | 0.77% |
| HCM Defender 500 Index Fund | 0.77% |
A discussion regarding the basis for the Board of Trustees’ renewal of the advisory agreement is available in the Funds’ annual report to shareholders dated June 30, 2021.
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The Funds are managed on a day-to-day basis by Vance Howard. Mr. Howard founded the Adviser in 1999 and has since then been the Adviser’s President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board. Prior to forming the Adviser, Mr. Howard was the President, CEO, Chairman and Founder of Chartered Financial Services, Inc., an investment advisory firm.
The Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”) provides additional information about the Portfolio Manager’s compensation, other accounts managed and ownership of Fund shares.
The NAV and offering price (NAV plus any applicable sales charges) of each Fund’s shares is determined at the close of regular trading on the Exchange (normally 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time) on each day the Exchange is open. NAV is computed by determining the aggregate market value of all assets of the applicable Fund, less its liabilities, divided by the total number of shares outstanding ((assets-liabilities)/number of shares = NAV). The Exchange is closed on weekends and New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The NAV takes into account the expenses and fees of a Fund, including management, administration, and distribution fees, which are accrued daily. The determination of NAV for a Fund for a particular day is applicable to all applications for the purchase of shares, as well as all requests for the redemption of shares, received by a Fund (or an authorized broker or agent, or its authorized designee) before the close of trading on the Exchange on that day.
Generally, each Fund’s securities are valued each day at the last quoted sales price on each security’s primary exchange. Securities traded or dealt in upon one or more securities exchanges (whether domestic or foreign) for which market quotations are readily available and not subject to restrictions against resale shall be valued at the last quoted sales price on the primary exchange or, in the absence of a sale on the primary exchange, at the mean between the current bid and ask prices on such exchange. Securities primarily traded in the National Association of Securities Dealers’ Automated Quotation System (“NASDAQ”) National Market System for which market quotations are readily available shall be valued using the NASDAQ Official Closing Price. Securities that are not traded or dealt in any securities exchange (whether domestic or foreign) and for which over-the-counter market quotations are readily available generally shall be valued at the last sale price or, in the absence of a sale, at the mean between the current bid and ask price on such over-the-counter market. Debt securities not traded on an exchange may be valued at prices supplied by a pricing agent(s) based on broker or dealer supplied valuations or matrix pricing, a method of valuing securities by reference to the value of other securities with similar characteristics, such as rating, interest rate and maturity.
If market quotations are not readily available, securities will be valued at their fair market value as determined using the “fair value” procedures approved by the Board of Trustees. Fair value pricing involves subjective judgments and it is possible that the fair value determined for a security may be materially different than the value that could be realized upon the sale of that security. The fair value prices can differ from market prices when they become available or when a price becomes available. The Board of Trustees has
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delegated execution of these procedures to a fair value committee composed of one or more representatives from each of the (i) Trust, (ii) administrator, and (iii) Adviser. The committee may also enlist third party consultants such as an audit firm or financial officer of a security issuer on an as-needed basis to assist in determining a security-specific fair value. The Board of Trustees reviews and ratifies the execution of this process and the resultant fair value prices at least quarterly to assure the process produces reliable results.
The Funds may use independent pricing services to assist in calculating the value of each Fund’s securities. In addition, market prices for foreign securities are not determined at the same time of day as the NAV for the Funds. Because the Funds may invest in underlying ETFs that hold portfolio securities primarily listed on foreign exchanges, and these exchanges may trade on weekends or other days when the underlying ETFs do not price their shares, the value of some of a Fund’s portfolio securities may change on days when you may not be able to buy or sell Shares. In computing the NAV, each Fund values foreign securities held by the Fund at the latest closing price on the exchange in which they are traded immediately prior to closing of the NYSE. Prices of foreign securities quoted in foreign currencies are translated into U.S. dollars at current rates. If events materially affecting the value of a security in a Fund’s portfolio, particularly foreign securities, occur after the close of trading on a foreign market but before a Fund prices its shares, the security may be priced using alternative market prices provided by a pricing service. For example, if trading in a portfolio security is halted and does not resume before a Fund calculates its NAV, alternative market prices may be used to value the security. Without a fair value price, short-term traders could take advantage of the arbitrage opportunity and dilute the NAV of long-term investors. Fair valuation of a Fund’s portfolio securities can serve to reduce arbitrage opportunities available to short-term traders, but there is no assurance that fair value pricing policies will prevent dilution of a Fund’s NAV by short term traders. The determination of fair value involves subjective judgments. As a result, using fair value to price a security may result in a price materially different from the prices used by other mutual funds to determine NAV, or from the price that may be realized upon the actual sale of the security.
With respect to any portion of a Fund’s assets that are invested in one or more open-end management investment companies registered under the 1940 Act, the Fund’s NAV is calculated based upon the NAVs of those open-end management investment companies, and the prospectuses for these companies explain the circumstances under which those companies will use fair value pricing and the effects of using fair value pricing.
Premium/Discount Information
Investors other than authorized participants will buy and sell Shares in secondary market transactions through brokers at market prices and Shares will trade at market prices. The market price of Shares may be greater than, equal to, or less than NAV. Market forces of supply and demand, economic conditions and other factors may affect the trading prices of Shares.
Information regarding how often Shares traded at a price above (at a premium to) or below (at a discount to) the NAV of each Fund during the past four calendar quarters, when available, can be found www.howardcmetfs.com.
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Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange under the symbols QQH for the 100 ETF and LGH for the 500 ETF. Share prices are reported in dollars and cents per Share. Shares can be bought and sold on the secondary market throughout the trading day like other publicly traded shares at their market price, and Shares typically trade in blocks of less than a Creation Unit. There is no minimum investment required. Shares may only be purchased and sold on the secondary market when the Exchange is open for trading. The Exchange is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and the following holidays, as observed: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
When buying or selling Shares through a broker, you will incur customary brokerage commissions and charges, and you may pay some or all of the spread between the bid and the offered price in the secondary market on each leg of a round trip (purchase and sale) transaction.
Only authorized participants may acquire Shares directly from the Funds, and authorized participants may tender their Shares for redemption directly to the Funds, at NAV per Share only in large blocks, or Creation Units, of 50,000 Shares. Purchases and redemptions directly with the Funds must follow each Fund’s procedures, which are described in the SAI.
The Funds may liquidate and terminate at any time without shareholder approval.
Book Entry
Shares are held in book entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) or its nominee is the record owner of all outstanding Shares and is recognized as the owner of all Shares for all purposes.
Investors owning Shares are beneficial owners as shown on the records of DTC or its participants. DTC serves as the securities depository for all Shares. Participants in DTC include securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and other institutions that directly or indirectly maintain a custodial relationship with DTC. As a beneficial owner of Shares, you are not entitled to receive physical delivery of stock certificates or to have Shares registered in your name, and you are not considered a registered owner of Shares. Therefore, to exercise any right as an owner of Shares, you must rely upon the procedures of DTC and its participants. These procedures are the same as those that apply to any other securities that you hold in book entry or “street name” form.
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FREQUENT PURCHASES AND REDEMPTIONS OF FUND SHARES
The Board of Trustees has not adopted a policy of monitoring for other frequent trading activity because shares of the Funds are listed for trading on a national securities exchange.
The Funds have adopted a distribution and service plan (“Plan”) pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. Under the Plan, the Funds are authorized to pay distribution fees to the distributor and other firms that provide distribution and shareholder services (“Service Providers”). If a Service Provider provides these services, the Fund may pay fees at an annual rate not to exceed 0.25% of average daily net assets, pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act.
No distribution or service fees are currently paid by the Funds, and there are no current plans to impose these fees. In the event Rule 12b-1 fees were charged, over time they would increase the cost of an investment in the Funds.
DIVIDENDS, OTHER DISTRIBUTIONS AND TAXES
Unlike interests in conventional mutual funds, which typically are bought and sold from and to the fund only at closing NAVs, Shares are traded throughout the day in the secondary market on a national securities exchange on an intra-day basis and are created and redeemed in-kind and/or for cash in Creation Units at each day’s next calculated NAV. In-kind arrangements are designed to protect ongoing shareholders from the adverse effects on a Fund’s portfolio that could arise from frequent cash redemption transactions. In a conventional mutual fund, redemptions can have an adverse tax impact on taxable shareholders if the mutual fund needs to sell portfolio securities to obtain cash to meet net fund redemptions. These sales may generate taxable gains for the ongoing shareholders of the mutual fund, whereas the Shares’ in-kind redemption mechanism generally will not lead to a tax event for the Funds or their ongoing shareholders.
Ordinarily, dividends from net investment income, if any, are declared and paid annually in December by the Funds. The Funds distribute their net realized capital gains, if any, to shareholders annually.
Distributions in cash may be reinvested automatically in additional whole Shares only if the broker through whom you purchased Shares makes such option available.
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Taxes
As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in Shares will be taxed. The tax information in this Prospectus is provided as general information. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in Shares.
Unless your investment in Shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an individual retirement account, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when:
| ● | a Fund makes distributions; |
| ● | you sell your Shares listed on the Exchange; and |
| ● | you purchase or redeem Creation Units. |
Taxes on Distributions
As stated above, dividends from net investment income, if any, ordinarily are declared and paid annually in December by the Funds. The Funds may also pay a special distribution at the end of a calendar year to comply with federal tax requirements. Distributions from each Fund’s net investment income, including net short-term capital gains, if any, are taxable to you as ordinary income, except that each Fund’s dividends attributable to its “qualified dividend income” (i.e., dividends received on stock of most domestic and certain foreign corporations with respect to which the Fund satisfies certain holding period and other restrictions), if any, generally are subject to federal income tax for non-corporate shareholders who satisfy those restrictions with respect to their Fund shares at the rate for net capital gain — a maximum of 15% for taxable years beginning before 2013. A part of each Fund’s dividends also may be eligible for the dividends-received deduction allowed to corporations — the eligible portion may not exceed the aggregate dividends each Fund receives from domestic corporations subject to federal income tax (excluding REITs) and excludes dividends from foreign corporations — subject to similar restrictions. However, dividends a corporate shareholder deducts pursuant to that deduction are subject indirectly to the federal alternative minimum tax.
In general, your distributions are subject to federal income tax when they are paid, whether you take them in cash or reinvest them in the Funds (if that option is available). Distributions reinvested in additional Shares through the means of a dividend reinvestment service, if available, will be taxable to shareholders acquiring the additional Shares to the same extent as if such distributions had been received in cash. Distributions of net long-term capital gains, if any, in excess of net short-term capital losses are taxable as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long you have held Shares.
Distributions in excess of a Fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits are treated as a tax-free return of capital to the extent of your basis in Shares and as capital gain thereafter. A distribution will reduce a Fund’s NAV per Share and may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gain (as described above) even though, from an investment standpoint, the distribution may constitute a return of capital.
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By law, the Funds are required to withhold 28% of your distributions and redemption proceeds if you have not provided the Fund with a correct social security number or other taxpayer identification number and in certain other situations.
Taxes on Exchange-Listed Share Sales
Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Shares is generally treated as long-term capital gain or loss if Shares have been held for more than one year and as short-term capital gain or loss if Shares have been held for one year or less. The ability to deduct capital losses from sales of Shares may be limited.
Taxes on Purchase and Redemption of Creation Units
An authorized participant who exchanges securities for Creation Units generally will recognize a gain or a loss equal to the difference between the market value of the Creation Units at the time of the exchange and the sum of the exchanger’s aggregate basis in the securities surrendered plus any Cash Component it pays. An authorized participant who exchanges Creation Units for securities will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the exchanger’s basis in the Creation Units and the sum of the aggregate market value of the securities received plus any cash equal to the difference between the NAV of the Shares being redeemed and the value of the securities. The Internal Revenue Service (“Service”), however, may assert that a loss realized upon an exchange of securities for Creation Units cannot be deducted currently under the rules governing “wash sales” or for other reasons. Persons exchanging securities should consult their own tax advisor with respect to whether wash sale rules apply and when a loss might be deductible.
Any capital gain or loss realized upon redemption of Creation Units is generally treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the Shares have been held for more than one year and as short-term capital gain or loss if the Shares have been held for one year or less.
If you purchase or redeem Creation Units, you will be sent a confirmation statement showing how many Shares you purchased or sold and at what price. See “Tax Status” in the SAI for a description of the newly effective requirement regarding basis determination methods applicable to Share redemptions and each Fund’s obligation to report basis information to the Service.
The foregoing discussion summarizes some of the possible consequences under current federal tax law of an investment in the Funds. It is not a substitute for personal tax advice. Consult your personal tax advisor about the potential tax consequences of an investment in the Shares under all applicable tax laws. See “Tax Status” in the SAI for more information.
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Ultimus Fund Solutions, LLC is the Funds’ administrator and fund accountant. It has its principal office at 225 Pictoria Drive, Suite 450, Cincinnati, OH 45246, and is primarily in the business of providing administrative, fund accounting and transfer agent services to retail and institutional mutual funds. It is an affiliate of the Distributor (as defined below).
Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., 50 Post Office Square, Boston, MA 02110 is the Funds’ custodian and transfer agent.
Northern Lights Distributors, LLC (“NLD” or the “Distributor”), 4221 North 203rd Street, Suite 100, Elkhorn, NE 68022, is the distributor for the shares of the Funds. The Distributor is a registered broker-dealer and member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”).
Thompson Hine LLP, 41 South High Street, 17th Floor, Columbus, OH 43215, serves as legal counsel to the Trust.
RSM US LLP, located at 555 Seventeenth Street, Suite 1200, Denver, CO 80202 serves as the Funds’ independent registered public accounting firm. The independent registered public accounting firm is responsible for providing tax services and auditing the annual financial statements of the Funds.
Investments by Investment Companies
The SEC has granted an exemptive order to the Trust and the Adviser permitting registered investment companies and unit investment trusts that enter into an agreement with the Trust (“Investing Funds”) to invest in series of the Trust beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act subject to certain terms and conditions. This aspect of the exemptive order is not applicable to the Funds. Accordingly, the Funds must adhere to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act when investing in other Funds.
Continuous Offering
The method by which Creation Units of Shares are created and traded may raise certain issues under applicable securities laws. Because new Creation Units of Shares are issued and sold by the Funds on an ongoing basis, a “distribution,” as such term is used in the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), may occur at any point. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner which could render them statutory underwriters and subject them to the prospectus delivery requirement and liability provisions of the Securities Act.
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For example, a broker-dealer firm or its client may be deemed a statutory underwriter if it takes Creation Units after placing an order with the Distributor, breaks them down into constituent Shares and sells Shares directly to customers or if it chooses to couple the creation of a supply of new Shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for Shares. A determination of whether one is an underwriter for purposes of the Securities Act must take into account all the facts and circumstances pertaining to the activities of the broker-dealer or its client in the particular case, and the examples mentioned above should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could lead to a characterization as an underwriter.
Broker-dealer firms should also note that dealers who are not “underwriters” but are effecting transactions in Shares, whether or not participating in the distribution of Shares, are generally required to deliver a prospectus. This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(3) of the Securities Act is not available in respect of such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the 1940 Act. As a result, broker-dealer firms should note that dealers who are not “underwriters” but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted with engaging in ordinary secondary market transactions) and thus dealing with the Shares that are part of an overallotment within the meaning of Section 4(3)(C) of the Securities Act, will be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(3) of the Securities Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the Securities Act is only available with respect to transactions on a national exchange.
Dealers effecting transactions in Shares, whether or not participating in this distribution, are generally required to deliver a Prospectus. This is in addition to any obligation of dealers to deliver a Prospectus when acting as underwriters.
31
The financial highlights tables are intended to help you understand each Fund’s financial performance for the period of the Funds’ operations. Certain information reflects financial results for a single Fund share. The total returns in the table represent the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in the Funds (assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions). This information has been derived from the financial statements audited by RSM US LLP, an Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm, whose report, along with each Fund’s financial statements, are included in each Fund’s June 30, 2021 annual report, which is available at no charge upon request.
| HCM Defender 100 Index ETF |
| FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS |
| Per Share Data and Ratios for a Share of Beneficial Interest Outstanding Throughout each Period |
| Year Ended | Period Ended | |||||||
| June 30, 2021 | June 30, 2020 (1) | |||||||
| Net asset value, beginning of period | $ | 30.21 | $ | 25.00 | ||||
| Activity from investment operations: | ||||||||
| Net investment loss (2) | (0.10 | ) | (0.04 | ) | ||||
| Net realized and unrealized gain on investments | 17.81 | 5.31 | ||||||
| Total from investment operations | 17.71 | 5.27 | ||||||
| Less distributions from: | ||||||||
| Net investment income | — | (0.00 | ) (5) | |||||
| Net realized gains | — | (0.06 | ) | |||||
| Total distributions | — | (0.06 | ) | |||||
| Net asset value, end of period | $ | 47.92 | $ | 30.21 | ||||
| Market price, end of period | $ | 47.97 | $ | 30.25 | ||||
| Total return (4)(8) | 58.62 | % | 21.11 | % | ||||
| Market price total return | 58.58 | % | 21.27 | % | ||||
| Net assets, at end of period (000s) | $ | 208,433 | $ | 101,197 | ||||
| Ratio of gross expenses to average net assets (6)(7) | 0.91 | % | 1.02 | % | ||||
| Ratio of net expenses to average net assets (6)(7) | 0.91 | % | 1.02 | % | ||||
| Ratio of net investment loss to average net assets (6)(7) | (0.26 | )% | (0.18 | )% | ||||
| Portfolio Turnover Rate (3)(8) | 5 | % | 150 | % | ||||
| (1) | The HCM Defender 100 Index ETF commenced operations on October 9, 2019. |
| (2) | Per share amounts calculated using the average shares method, which more appropriately presents the per share data for the period. |
| (3) | Portfolio turnover rate excludes portfolio securities received or delivered as a result of processing capital share transactions in Creation Units. |
| (4) | Total return is calculated assuming a purchase of shares at net asset value on the first day and a sale at net asset value on the last day of the period. Distributions are assumed, for the purpose of this calculation, to be reinvested at the ex-dividend date net asset value per share on their respective payment dates. |
| (5) | Represents less than $0.005. |
| (6) | Does not include the expenses of other investment companies in which the Fund invests, as these expenses are included in the realized and unrealized gain/(loss) on investments. |
| (7) | Annualized for periods less than one year. |
| (8) | Not annualized. |
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| HCM Defender 500 Index ETF |
| FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS |
| Per Share Data and Ratios for a Share of Beneficial Interest Outstanding Throughout each Period |
| Year Ended | Period Ended | |||||||
| June 30, 2021 | June 30, 2020 (1) | |||||||
| Net asset value, beginning of period | $ | 25.15 | $ | 25.00 | ||||
| Activity from investment operations: | ||||||||
| Net investment income (2) | 0.09 | 0.07 | ||||||
| Net realized and unrealized gain on investments | 14.79 | 0.13 | ||||||
| Total from investment operations | 14.88 | 0.20 | ||||||
| Less distributions from: | ||||||||
| Net investment income | (0.08 | ) | (0.05 | ) | ||||
| Net realized gains | — | (0.00 | ) (5) | |||||
| Return of capital | — | (0.00 | ) (5) | |||||
| Total distributions | (0.08 | ) | (0.05 | ) | ||||
| Net asset value, end of period | $ | 39.95 | $ | 25.15 | ||||
| Market price, end of period | $ | 40.00 | $ | 25.12 | ||||
| Total return (4)(8) | 59.23 | % | 0.78 | % | ||||
| Market price total return | 59.62 | % | 0.66 | % | ||||
| Net assets, at end of period (000s) | $ | 195,733 | $ | 91,806 | ||||
| Ratio of gross expenses to average net assets (6)(7) | 0.94 | % | 1.14 | % | ||||
| Ratio of net expenses to average net assets (6)(7) | 0.94 | % | 1.14 | % | ||||
| Ratio of net investment income to average net assets (6)(7) | 0.27 | % | 0.40 | % | ||||
| Portfolio Turnover Rate (3)(8) | 3 | % | 128 | % | ||||
| (1) | The HCM Defender 500 Index ETF commenced operations on October 9, 2019. |
| (2) | Per share amounts calculated using the average shares method, which more appropriately presents the per share data for the period. |
| (3) | Portfolio turnover rate excludes portfolio securities received or delivered as a result of processing capital share transactions in Creation Units. |
| (4) | Total return is calculated assuming a purchase of shares at net asset value on the first day and a sale at net asset value on the last day of the period. Distributions are assumed, for the purpose of this calculation, to be reinvested at the ex-dividend date net asset value per share on their respective payment dates. |
| (5) | Represents less than $0.005. |
| (6) | Does not include the expenses of other investment companies in which the Fund invests, as these expenses are included in the realized and unrealized gain/(loss) on investments. |
| (7) | Annualized for periods less than one year. |
| (8) | Not annualized. |
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Rev. June 2021
| FACTS | WHAT DOES NORTHERN LIGHTS FUND TRUST III DO WITH YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION? | |||
| Why? | Financial companies choose how they share your personal information. Federal law gives consumers the right to limit some but not all sharing. Federal law also requires us to tell you how we collect, share, and protect your personal information. Please read this notice carefully to understand what we do. | |||
| What? | The types of personal information we collect and share depend on the product or service you have with us. This information can include: | |||
| ■ Social Security number | ■ Purchase History | |||
| ■ Assets | ■ Account Balances | |||
| ■ Retirement Assets | ■ Account Transactions | |||
| ■ Transaction History | ■ Wire Transfer Instructions | |||
| ■ Checking Account Information | ||||
| When you are no longer our customer, we continue to share your information as described in this notice. | ||||
| How? | All financial companies need to share customers’ personal information to run their everyday business. In the section below, we list the reasons financial companies can share their customers’ personal information; the reasons Northern Lights Fund Trust III chooses to share; and whether you can limit this sharing. | |||
| Reasons we can share
your personal information |
Does
Northern Lights Fund Trust III share? |
Can you limit this sharing? | ||
|
For our everyday business purposes – such as to process your transactions, maintain your account(s), respond to court orders and legal investigations, or report to credit bureaus |
Yes | No | ||
|
For our marketing purposes – to offer our products and services to you |
No | We don’t share | ||
| For joint marketing with other financial companies | No | We don’t share | ||
|
For our affiliates’ everyday business purposes – information about your transactions and experiences |
No | We don’t share | ||
|
For our affiliates’ everyday business purposes – information about your creditworthiness |
No | We don’t share | ||
| For nonaffiliates to market to you | No | We don’t share | ||
| Questions? | Call (631) 490-4300 | |||
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| Who we are | |
| Who is providing this notice? | Northern Lights Fund Trust III |
| What we do | |
| How does Northern Lights Fund Trust III protect my personal information? |
To protect your personal information from unauthorized access and use, we use security measures that comply with federal law. These measures include computer safeguards and secured files and buildings.
Our service providers are held accountable for adhering to strict policies and procedures to prevent any misuse of your nonpublic personal information.
|
| How does Northern Lights Fund Trust III collect my personal information? |
We collect your personal information, for example, when you
■ Open an account
■ Provide account information
■ Give us your contact information
■ Make deposits or withdrawals from your account
■ Make a wire transfer
■ Tell us where to send the money
■ Tells us who receives the money
■ Show your government-issued ID
■ Show your driver’s license
We also collect your personal information from other companies.
|
| Why can’t I limit all sharing? |
Federal law gives you the right to limit only
■ Sharing for affiliates’ everyday business purposes – information about your creditworthiness
■ Affiliates from using your information to market to you
■ Sharing for nonaffiliates to market to you
State laws and individual companies may give you additional rights to limit sharing. |
| Definitions | |
| Affiliates |
Companies related by common ownership or control. They can be financial and nonfinancial companies.
■ Northern Lights Fund Trust III does not share with our affiliates.
|
| Nonaffiliates |
Companies not related by common ownership or control. They can be financial and nonfinancial companies
■ Northern Lights Fund Trust III does not share with nonaffiliates so they can market to you.
|
| Joint marketing |
A formal agreement between nonaffiliated financial companies that together market financial products or services to you.
■ Northern Lights Fund Trust III doesn’t jointly market. |
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HCM Defender 100 Index ETF
HCM Defender 500 Index ETF
| Adviser |
Howard Capital Management, Inc. 1145 Hembree Road Roswell, GA 30076 |
| Custodian
& Transfer Agent |
Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. 50 Post Office Square Boston, MA 02110 |
| Administrator |
Ultimus Fund Solutions, LLC 225 Pictoria Drive, Suite 450 Cincinnati, OH 45246 |
| Distributor |
Northern Lights Distributors, LLC 4221 North 203rd Street, Suite 100 Elkhorn, Nebraska 68022 |
| Legal Counsel |
Thompson Hine LLP 41 South High Street, Suite 1700 Columbus, OH 43215 |
| Independent
Registered Public Accounting Firm |
RSM US LLP 555 Seventeenth Street, Suite 1200 Denver, CO 80202 |
Additional information about the Funds is included in the Funds’ SAI dated November 1, 2021. The SAI is incorporated into this Prospectus by reference (i.e., legally made a part of this Prospectus). The SAI provides more details about the Funds’ policies and management. Additional information about the Funds’ investments is available in the Funds’ Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to Shareholders. In the Funds’ Annual Report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Funds’ performance during the last fiscal year.
To obtain a free copy of the SAI and the Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to Shareholders, or other information about the Funds, or to make shareholder inquiries about the Funds, please call 1-770-642-4902. Information relating to the Funds can be found on the Fund’s website at www.howardcmetfs.com. You may also write to:
HCM Defender 100 Index ETF
HCM Defender 500 Index ETF
c/o Ultimus Fund Solutions, LLC
4221 North 203rd Street, Suite 100
Elkhorn, Nebraska 68022
Reports and other information about the Funds are available on the EDGAR Database on the SEC’s Internet site at http://www.sec.gov. Copies of the information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following E-mail address: [email protected].
Investment Company Act File # 811-22655